Original Poems Promoting Social Justice

Custodian to the Young | A Social Justice Poem by JD DeHart

A kid refuses to look at the bookas if reading the words might give himlate stage leprosy, whilehis neighborunstitches a baseball to pass the timeThere is a quiet competition going onsomewhere in the room involvingknuckles and quartersThey all wear facesthat are not quitetheir own, smiling at the teacherone of those put-up-with-you grinsspouting political opinions overheardfrom their parents in other roomsStatistics say at least threeof themhave suffered some abusemaybe even this morningbefore classChildren move in their own circlestrying all the doors for locks and levelsreaching out to find buttons to pushlike a dashboard of dainty delightsI hate Obama, one says, I do too, anotherneither knowing why, or how,or what it really means,and a third chimes inWhy do I have to learn to read anywayNone of this matters to me, it’s so stupidTeacher stands with book held up, refusingto let the pages curl up and crisp completelyreciting again the bold Jimenez quote.